Feeding Your Infant: Is There a Right or Wrong Way?

Some moms, especially first time moms, get nervous when it comes to breastfeeding or bottle feeding their baby. Someone may have told her to feed the baby every two hours, someone may have told her every three hours. Her doctor could have said the intervals should increase with age. The truth is, there is no right or wrong way to feed your baby. It’s a decision you and your child make as a team. Some babies need more food than others, and some need less.

Refusing to feed your baby when he or she seems hungry because of a feeding schedule could actually be doing more harm than good:

When breasts are fuller, milk production slows. When breasts are emptier, we make more milk. When babies feed more frequently and from emptier breasts, they receive milk with a higher fat content. Frequent feeding has value. And as human milk has a fat content of around 3-5% compared to some mammals who have a fat content of 40% +, it seems pretty clear we’re designed as a species to need feeding more frequently. –Source

For some moms, keeping to a schedule is the only way to keep their sanity. And if that’s you, that’s okay! Like we said, it’s a decision you and your child make as a team.